Glamorgan’s Jim Allenby rumoured to be joining Somerset

Allenby, who signed a four-year extension to his contract with the Welsh County last year, is believed to be close to following his former mentor Matt Maynard to the County Ground in Taunton.

Maynard tweeted last week that fans could expect new signings to be unveiled this week when he gets back from a nine-day training camp with Cricket Scotland in Dubai.

Allenby’s expected signing is unrelated to last week’s news that Nick Compton is leaving Somerset to relocate more permanently to his London home.

An all-rounder, Allenby is a very different type of player, but one with enormous experience in a career that has included spells with Western Australia, Leicestershire and Glamorgan and seen him appear in three Lord’s finals.

He is particularly strong in limited overs matches and rumours have circulated on social media for several weeks linking him with the Somerset captaincy in the shorter forms of the game.

Allenby captained Glamorgan in the T20 tournament in 2012 and 2014, a format where he’s proved particularly effective. In 97 T20 games he has scored 2,407 runs at an average of 32.09 with two centuries, as well as taking 52 wickets at 32.40. Those are impressive figures for an all-rounder, especially as he’s opened the batting as well. He could well be the missing part of the jigsaw Somerset need for next year’s T20 campaign. During 2014, far too much of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Craig Kieswetter and Pete Trego and another powerful batsman with a strike rate of 124.58 could be just what we need.

Allenby’s List A figures are slightly more modest by comparison, but he’s still been a key part of Glamorgan’s one-day side. In 95 matches, Allenby has scored 2,096 runs at an average of 26.2 with a highest score of 91* and 80 wickets at 31.85.

Despite his undoubted reputation in limited overs cricket, Allenby’s first-class figures are impressive too, even allowing for the fact his performances have mostly been in second division cricket. In total, he has scored 6,656 first-class runs at an average of 40.83 with 10 centuries, including a highest score of 138*. He was Glamorgan’s leading scorer in the championship in 2014, with 923 runs at 34.18. He’s also taken 254 first-class wickets in his career at 25.79 apiece.

Expect further news from the club later this week. Somerset will also be in the market for a new opening batsman following Compton’s departure and allowing for the fact that Tom Abell will be away for the early part of the season as he continues his university studies.